Hero's Survival
by M-Angel 05
Summary: The Reapers are here, the galaxy is being destroyed, and it's all my fault. Now I've gotta stop the Reapers, save the galaxy, and find a way home...oh and I'm pregnant. What's a girl to do?
1. Chapter 1: Now What?

**Chapter 1**: _Now What?_

* * *

**Location**: _Battlefield Above Earth_

**Date**: _June 14, 2184_

My eyes widened as we watched the Citadel begin to open as the Crucible attached itself to it. Then Hackett's voice came through the comm system. "Shepard, the Crucible isn't firing! It's something on your end!" Ann's voice came through next. "There's nothing here!" She sounded both panicked and exhausted. "Wha-" came John's voice before we lost a connection with both. I looked over towards Jeff, who was sitting in his chair; while I sat in the co-pilot's seat. Minutes passed very slowly. What seemed like hours was in fact no more than ten minutes when the comm began crackling. "Joker we need a pick-up asap!" came one of their voices, but the comm was so pitchy that I couldn't tell if it was Ann's or John's voice.

"Aye, aye Commander." Jeff answered. His voice ever so calm that it was quite eerie. As we closed in to the Citadel for pick-up we noticed that the entire structure, including the Crucible, was glowing an odd color.

I couldn't pay too much attention to it as the comm crackled again and once more I couldn't tell who it was exactly. "We...Citadel...gonna blow!" was all we heard, and it was all we needed to hear as Jeff drove the Normandy into a hot pick-up and in seconds began to take off towards the relay.

Both of our hands flew over the holographic displays of consoles as we went through the relay. "Jeff, I'm picking up a huge surge of energy!" I yelled out at him.

"Shit, shit, shit!" he cursed when suddenly all the klaxons began sounding loudly.

The console I was at suddenly caught fire. I quickly pushed myself away from it, wrapped an arm around my swollen stomach. "Shit!" I screamed as I grabbed my burnt left hand.

"Serena!" he yelled as we were hit by a wave of pure energy. I was thrown from my chair to the ground. I felt my head hit something and as darkness took me over I was reminded of how this all began.

* * *

**Location**: _Citadel_

**Date**: _October 28, 2183_

My eyes widened, as did every spectator on board the ships in and around the Citidel. They had no choice, we had to retreat. The Citadel was activating! "This is Spectre John Sheperd, we need evac shuttles asap. I repeat, we need evacuation shuttles for civilians asap!"

I looked over towards Jeff, "We need to get them." I noticed he was looking at the now charred remains of the _SSV Normandy_. I placed my hand on his shoulder as we passed the escape shuttles. "Should we help 'em?"

He looked up at me. "After we get Ann." He looked towards the co-pilot seat. "Could use my sexy co-pilot." he smirked.

"Yeah well, your sexy co-pilot has to go help Chakwas." I leaned down and kissed his bearded cheek. "Keep us safe," I whispered into his ear as I left.

* * *

Ann shot another husk as it came hobbling towards them. "Joker we need pick-up asap!" she yelled into her comm. She saw John dodge a geth hopper as Jacob made it explode from a hacking.

"Coming in behind you Commander," was her response from him.

"We're on the damn Presidium. There's nowhere to land!" she yelled at him.

"It's me you're talking to Shep, I can do the impossible. I'm Jeff Joker fuckin' Moreau! I can do this!" he yelled back at her.

"Then get it done Moreau!" she heard John yell as his body lit up with his biotics, the geth flying from the Presidium to the ground below.

"You heard him Joker, get it done," she said as she picked up her collector based gun. The superheated plasma tore through the husk bodies without hesitation.

Ian pulled out his sniper began shooting the geth from the walls. "Why did it have to be Garrus!" he growled. "My best friend!" he shot another and another, each one being a head shot.

Ann looked at Ian and then towards her husband. "Keep your head in the game!" Garrus growled at the human.

Ian paused as he looked at the turian before he nodded. "Right," he muttered as he shot again and got another headshot.

Wrex threw up a shield around the two Shepards as a kamikazie husk came running at them, but blew up on impact of the krogan's shields. The two looked at him. "You can thank me later," he growled, his eyes shinning in what could only be amusement.

Just then there was a whirling of engines and as the wind picked up everybody looked up to see the _Normandy SR-3_ come barreling through the Citadel. It's thanix canon shot through a building allowing it to pass through it to the teams awaiting for an evac. The ship came to a pause as it shot at the building opposite of the team, which then collapsed and allowed it to spin around and open the cargo bay. John's remaining team jumped into it. They gave cover fire to Ann's team who jumped in after them. Kal jumped last and paused when a single shot was heard, causing Ann to turn around quickly with he pistols drawn. Kal lifted his hand to reveal purplish/blue blood on his hand. He'd been shot. It was a through and through. "Commander?" he asked as he fell to the ground unconscious.

"I need a medic!" she yelled as she grabbed him before he touched the ground.

"Good thing I'm here then," came Serena's voice as she ran over to the fallen quarian in the Commander's arms. Chakwas was right behind her. The two began to check his pulse, scan for infections, see if any major organs were hit, and then got him onto the gurney and ran him to medbay.

Ann looked out the cargo bay as it began to close and the Normandy began it's ascent into space and away from the oncoming apocalypse. John grabbed Ann's shoulder. "What now?" he asked. He looked to be still shaken by what had happened.

"Now, we fight back." she said as they walked into the elevator. "But first we need to go to Eden Prime."

"Why?" he inquired as his eyebrows knitted together. "What's on Eden Prime?"

Ann smiled. "A friend," she responded as the doors to the CIC opened up.

* * *

**M-Angel**: Yes! There is my surprise to my loyal readers. Chapter one to Hero's Survival is finished. Now that I have your attention, chapter two isn't going to be posted until after Labor Day...maybe? Now I'm off to go finish A New Dawn; that way I can begin working on this story. *smiles*

**xoxoangii**: remember to review! maybe it will make her write faster :x


	2. Chapter 2: Eden Prime

**Chapter 2**: _Eden Prime_

* * *

**Location**: _En Route to Eden Prime_

**Date**: _October 28, 2183_

My eyes closed as I leaned against the wall next to the medbay doors and took a deep breath. Kal's surgery had taken a few hours to do. The room had been a clean room, which was something quarians needed to be in, in order to be out of their suits. I'd seen quarians through diagrams and such a long time again when Dr. Solus had given them to me for extra learning. Kal had been lucky. The bullet had come mere inches of severing his spine. He'd lost a lot of blood, but Carolyn had high hopes for him pulling through and making a full recovery. When I had seen Kal in Ann's arms I had been scared, mostly because I knew Tali really liked him, or at least the first Tali I had known did.

Upon opening my eyes I pushed myself away from the wall and walked away from medbay towards the elevator. Everything that had happened had yet to really sink in. I decided that I needed to go somewhere quiet, but once I had arrived at the elevator and it opened I was greeted by the sight of seeing Ian on the floor. He looked like he was between yelling at somebody, killing something, or crashing down to cry. "What happened?" I inquired as I stepped inside the elevator.

His eyes searched mine for a moment. "Garrus..." he began, but stumbled on the words for a moment. "We fought Saren together...but..."he trailed off for a moment.

"He died," I finished for him, receiving a single nod from him. I pressed a button on the elevator button. "Need somewhere quiet to be?" I asked as I looked at the young man next to me. Again, all I got was a nod. "I know of a place," I said as the doors opened to the floor with the observation deck. Helping Ian to stand up, we made our way to a couch near the front of the room.

Neither of us said anything. While Ian was looking into the distance, I was lost in my own thoughts. Only hours ago I had survived both an assassination and had found out that I was pregnant. Pregnant. Me pregnant. A couple of years ago, if I'd been told that this was to be my life in the future, I would've laughed.

My hands slipped from my knees to my stomach where my baby was growing. Even though the galaxy was coming to an end, I couldn't help but smile at the though of myself becoming a Mom, and at that moment I made my baby a promise; that I'd do everything in my power to keep it safe, no matter what.

After several minutes of silence I heard Ian take a deep breath. Upon looking at him I saw that he had blue blood in his hair and on his face. I was about to ask him if he wanted to clean up when the doors opened up behind us. Turning around I saw Ann walking into the room. I quickly removed my hand from my stomach as she came around the couch and stood in front of us. I didn't want to tell her just yet about my pregnancy when I didn't even know how Jeff felt about it. "Ian, right?" she asked.

"Yes Ma'am," was his reply as he lifted his head and looked at her.

"I'm sorry about your friend," she said sincerely. "Garrus Vakarian was a good soldier and officer." She paused. "I didn'know your Garrus very well, but if he's anything like my husband, then I know he wouldn't want you to mourn him too long when there's a Reaper Invasion to stop."

I watched as Ian swallowed a lump in his throat and nodded at Ann. "What do you want me to do?"

This caused Ann to smile slightly. "I'm going to need your help on an upcoming mission," she said. "First though, I want to know more about you and your specialties."

Ian thought for a moment. "Weapon specialty is sniper rifle and pistols. I'm good at tech, some hacking skills; Garrus was teaching me that one." He sighed. "I'm British by birth, I moved to the Citadel a few years ago, became a C-Sec investigator, and joined John's crew a month or two ago."

"Sniper and pistol," I heard Ann repeat. "What type?"

"I like the Predator pistol most. It's lightweight, has high ammo capacity, and can be fired rapidly with very little recoil." He said as she smirked at his choice. "I prefer the Mantis sniper rifle for its power whilst remaining lightweight and stable."

Suddenly there was a chuckle behind Ian, causing his smile to disappear as Ann's husband, Garrus walked up to his wife's side. "Sounds like we may get along."

Ann chuckled and then looked at me. "The AI on Ilos said that all you had to do was wish us home or something to stop the oncoming apocalypse."

"Wish it?" Ian asked at the insane idea that it only took was a wish.

I thought for a moment and then remembered my strange dream. "The _In Between,_" I whispered.

"Yes," she said. "What is the _In Between_?" everybody looked at me.

"The _In Between_ is a reality between life and death; but is also a dimension between realities. Very few can pass through it successfully." My eyes widened at a realization. "When I was home two or three years ago I made a wish. I literally said I wished my life would be more exciting or that I'd have an adventure. I went to bed and awoke on the Citadel and that's when this all began. Then on the Collector Base I wished I could change things and I appeared on the _SSV Normandy_. Then I missed everybody, especially Jeff, and that's when your ship and crew came here." The realization hit me like a charging krogan. "I'm the reason all of this has happened."

"No." I heard Ian say. "This isn't your fault."

"Ian's right. Spirits, this could've happened to anybody," I heard Garrus say. I felt the couch sag next to me and looked at the turian. "I've known you for a while. Hell, you helped piece together my face. You're a good person and I know you feel like this is your fault, but it isn't."

"My husband is right," Ann said with a smile.

"So if bad things follow her making a wish..." Ian trailed off.

"Then no more wishes until we get what's on Eden Prime," Ann said as she went to walk out.

"Which is?" Ian inquired after her.

She paused and looked over her shoulder. "A friend..." she said smirking. "A Prothean friend."

* * *

**Location**: _Orbit Above Eden Prime_

**Date**: _October 29, 2183_

I looked over at Joker from the co-pilot's chair as he was eating a bagel I had brought him, while flying the SR-3 in orbit around Eden Prime. The planet was another garden world that the Alliance had transformed into a colony. One that, a few months ago, was being attacked by Saren and his geth. "We're stealthed Commander," he said over the comm.

"Thanks. We're taking the shuttle," came her reply.

"Ya know, this is actually an easier mission than last time," he said as he plopped the final bite into his mouth.

"I hear a but coming." I joked, causing him to smirk.

"But we had already defeated Dr. Eva at the Mars Station." His smirk vanished. "Though I'll admit that mission could've gone better."

I looked out the window ahead of us and sighed as I looked at the blue/green color of the planet below. "Why?" I asked absentmindedly.

"Well, she was a Cerberus android," he said as if I should know. "She almost killed Cortez, the shuttle pilot. Alenko got his head hashed in and if the Commander hadn't shot a rocket at the metal bitch I'm sure Garrus would've killed her-it...whatever." I giggled at the last part. "I'm serious!" he cried out acting wounded, which caused me to laugh more.

"Speaking of Cerberus, the Illusive Man knows about me and if he does then ten to one so does the Shadow Broker." I didn't even look at him while saying this.

"Joy," he sighed.

Deciding now was the best time to have a good talk about our situation I took a deep breath. "So we haven't talk out _it_ yet," I said nervously.

"It?" he asked confusedly.

"The baby," I whispered delicately.

"Oh," he said as he pulled his hand away tron the console. "It's not like I'm **not** happy about it, but I've kinda been too busy to think about it."

"Oh," I said trying desperately not to sound sad.

"Growing up with my condition is something I always hated." he began. "At first I hated the fact that I couldn't do things that others my age were doing. Then it was the fact that by age ten I'd already broken every bone in my body at least fifty times. Then I lived on Arcturus Station since I was seven. My Dad and half sister lived on Tiptree, a tiny colony world in the middle of nowhere. My Mother was constantly fussing about something that I'd done that had caused me to break something." He sighed. "I never wanted to pass this onto my children, so I barely dated." He looked at me. "Then I met you and everything changed." He looked at my stomach. "When I found out about the baby I was excited, but very scared." He then smirked. "But we'll be alright. I know it. I mean, we can't do any worse than my parents did. Right?" I smiled happily and just nodded.

* * *

Ann looked out the shuttle cockpit as they came in for a landing at the digsite. She noticed that it wasn't as big as it had been before due to it being two years earlier, but she was certain they'd find Javik here. Part of her was hoping they'd run into Cerberus troops or agents, but the other part of her just wanted this to be a boring grab and go mission. Turning around she saw John and Alberdeen checking their weapons, while Ian counted how many clips he had of ammo. "Alright," she began. "We're here to find a Prothean soldier named Javik. In my time his stasis tank was being prepared to be moved by Cerberus troopers, however this time I'm hoping it'll be different. This is an archaeological digsite, so expect to run into a scientist or two." She paused and looked at John. "You're a Spectre, so use your status to get what we've come for at any means nessasary."

"Wasn't gonna say anything, it's your mission," he said quietly as he put on his helmet. "I'd like to split us up. We'll cover more ground faster."

"Agreed," was her reply as she put on her eye piece that was similar to the one Garrus wore. "Shaw, you're. with me." Ian nodded.

"Alberdeen and I will head towards the science labs and see what's going on," John informed Ann as the shuttle landed.

"Good." She looked over towards Shaw. "Ian and I will take the shuttle to the platform I remember Javik being on. If he's not there we'll meet you at the labs."

"Deal," John said as he jumped out after Alberdeen.

Turning towards Cortez, Ann tapped his shoulder. "Do you remember where to go?"

"Sure do Commander!" he yelled out happily. "And here I thought you forgot about me."

"Hard to do that Cortez," she laughed, then turned towards Ian. "Try not to piss off Javik when you meet him."

"Ah man and here I was gonna sing Kumbiyah to him," he said sarcastically as his accent thickened.

"Smartass," she muttered as she checked her own weapons.

"Why thank-you Commander," he laughed causing her to chuckle as they landed on the platform. They didn't even walk ten feet when Ann spotted the stasis pod.

Pulling out her own Predator pistol she slowly walked over to it. "John, we have the package," she said into the comm.

"Good," came his breathless reply. "We're kinda having a shootout with a Dr. Eva."

"John be careful! She's a Cerberus android!" she yelled into the comm.

"Fuck," she heard Alberdeen curse. Turning towards Ian she pointed him towards the pod. "We're opening it now. We don't have time to wait around." They both rushed over to the pod. Ian stood ready for an attack as Ann opened it.

As the steam poured out of it Ian turned in time to see the Prothean jump out glowing with biotics. The Prothean then turned towards Ann and grabbed her. They were stuck still for a few minutes when the Prothean pulled away abruptly. "Impossible," he said as if he was out of breath.

"Look we don't have time to play fifty questions right now. We need your assistance Commander Javik," Ann said knowing he'd seen some images in her mind that allowed him to know she wasn't from this reality.

Javik lifted his head and smirked. "And what makes you think I'll assist you primate."

"Because you and I both know that the Reapers will destroy everything in this galaxy if they're not stopped." She heard an explosion in the distance. Touching her omni-tool she yelled at John. "What was that?"

"Uh, Alberdeen just blew the labs in hopes to kill that android." There were popping noises as the gun went off. "It didn't work."

"Find a rocket and blow the bitch up!" she yelled looking back at Javik she saw he was now looking at Ian who was looking awfully nervous.

"You are not from here either," Javik stated before turning back to Ann. "I agree. I will help, but I want my pod to come with us. I may need it."

"Sure," was her reply as another explosion occurred. "Cortez get the shuttle over here and lets get out of dodge."

"Aye, aye Commander!" was the pilot's reply.

As the sun disappeared over the horizon, Ann knew that the upcoming battles were going to be testing everybody, especially her crew; but she knew they'd pass 'em with flying colors.

* * *

**M-Angel**: Yes, finally I posted this chapter. Originally I wasn't even going to put the Eden Prime mission in it. It originally was going to go in depth to how Ian is doing because of his best friend's death. Now I am happy about how I did it. Hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter. I'll try to get another chapter out by September 11.

**xoxoangii**: Yay new chapterr!


	3. Chapter 3: Javik

**Chapter 3**: _Javik_

* * *

**Location**: _Attican Traverse_  
**Date**: _October 30, 2183_

The Attican Traverse was the home of four major human colonies; Eden Prime, Terra Nova, Shanxi, and Mindoir. In the two days since the Reapers attacked the Citadel massive evacuations of these colonies were taking place. There were also dozens of minor colonies being evacuated, but where these evacuees were going to go was beyond anything any normal person knew.

Serena continued to look into the galactic map in front of her in the CIC. Next to the CIC was the new War Room where Ann and John were both currently talking to the surviving counselors; Trevose and Valern, on holographic screens. Turning away from the War Room she saw Joker near a console typing something. "What are you doing?" she asked as she sat down in the seat next to his.

"Looking to see if anybody picked up the _SSV Normandy_ crew," he continued to type when he suddenly smiled and then laughed. "Ever heard of the _SV Kilimanjaro_?" This got a blank look from her. "In our reality it was lost to a Batarian raider attack. Its captain was a crazy assed woman named Hannah Remington. In this reality its captain's name is Hannah Shepard and is John's aunt. She was at the Citadel during the attack and was able to breakaway from Malcavich's fifth fleet in order to save the Normandy's crew."

Serena chuckled. "Let me guess, your number two was saved?" she giggled at his smirk.

"Yep." he chuckled. "And the reapers will never have a chance with two of us around."

"That's good to hear Joker," came John's voice from behind us. "Glad my aunt is still alive too."

"You two close?" Ann asked as she leaned against the glass of the War Room's door.

"No." He paused. "She's my dad's sister and I hated her as a teen. Joined the Systems Alliance N7 program even as she protested against it." He shook his head. "She was okay with anything else, but not the N7 program."

"Wonder why," Ann said, not really expecting a reply. She turned towards Joker. "Anything else?"

"Yeah, she's off the grid," he said. "After leaving the Citadel, the Kilimanjaro went silent...that is until you guys hit the dirt on Eden Prime yesterday. She's docked herself near Tiptree."

"Tiptree?" John inquired.

"It's a small colony world that circulates a big gas giant." He tapped a few buttons on the console and brought the planet up on the galaxy map. It appeared next to a blueish gas planet, which had two other moons circulating around it. "Tiptree has one major landmass with four smaller landmasses surrounding it. It's mostly a farming colony, but two of the smaller landmasses have two large corporations on them. One is a terraforming corporation called T-Forming Corp and the other is called Zaren Mining Corp. Both are owned by a Alsir Vas Quib and Alister Jarzenski."

"Alsir is quarian,"Ann stated. "Why would a human and quarian go into business together when all quarians live within the fleet?"

"He was exiled," came Tali's voice from behind the group. Everybody looked at the young quarian girl who John didn't recognize because he hadn't seen her in the purple suit she was now in.

"Tali," Ann said sadly. "How's Kal?"

"Better." she sighed. "We wanted to thank-you for the clean room that's on the other side of the medbay."

Ann chuckled. "You making it of use?" she inquired.

"Commander!" she squeaked.

Ann began to chuckle. "Can you blame me?" she defended herself. "I want to be an aunt!"

"Oh Keelah!" Tali gasped out. "Ann it's gonna be...awhile for that."

John coughed to cover a laugh of his own. "Can't blame me for trying," Ann defended. "Guess John and I should go down to the cargo hold and check on our Prothean friend." She turned to Joker. "Put in a course for Tiptree."

"Aye, aye." he nodded as he headed to the cockpit.

Ann turned to Tali. "Why was this guy exiled?" she inquired.

"He tried to kill an admiral." was her reply.

"Why?" Serena asked Tali who seemed shocked to see her at first.

"Uh..." she began. "It was Zaal'Koris. He disagreed with him on many policies and finally just had enough. Zaal had him exiled for the attempt, but before that Alsir was a very good man and was my fathers best friend."

As the group approached the elevator Ann turned to Tali. "That reminds me, we need to get into contact with the migrant fleet, including your father Admiral Rael'Zorah." She watched as Tali nodded as both she and John vanished into the elevator.

Tali then turned to Serena. "So when were you going to say hi to me?" she inquired.

"Uh...been busy?" Serena said as she made up an excuse. Truth was she had wanted to but had, had her mind fill with thoughts of first trying to survive, then finding out about the baby and then trying to get Ian to smile again. Something was off about her British friend. After returning from his mission with Ann that had produced Javik, he had gone into hiding in the Main Battery and had basically lock himself in there only coming out for food in the last day.

"Huh...maybe you and I need to get reaquainted," she said with a laugh. "A lot has occurred in the last year or so." Tali happily grabbed Serena's wrist and dragged her down to engineering.

* * *

Keeping his yellow eyes closed, Javik continued to ignore the inquisitive stares of the human guards in the room. He knew they were only doing their job, but it had been their Commander who had brought him here; so why they felt the need to guard him he didn't understand. In his mind no time had really passed since the day he'd gone into the cryogenic pod. One moment he had been fighting and the next he had awaken to find that _human_ awakening him. She had known who he was. She wasn't from this reality, but had somehow passed from one reality to this one. He knew his own people had tried, unsuccessfully, to jump from their waring reality to a peaceful one where the reapers had already gone through and wiped out their kind. Obviously that hadn't worked. Then there had been rumors of a dimension called **The In Between,** which to him was even more confusing. He was a warrior, not a scientist who theorized about the impossible. He killed things. It was all he'd ever known. These _humans_ knew nothing of true war, but they'd learn or they'd be fated to the same fate as his people had been.

A whirling of the elevator doors opening was heard. Looking up he saw the female Commander with her counterpart in this reality. They may have been opposite secession, but their scents were one and the same. Both had an aurora of authority, power behind that authority; but only one of them knew of that power and the other was oblivious to it. Oblivious or not the female was the stronger out of the two and his people were known for liking strength above power. "Commander." he greeted through clenched teeth.

"Commander Javik," she greeted in a friendly manner. Javik watched as the human male watched her and his own reactions. Obviously this human wasn't going to introduce himself. "My name is Ann Shepard, this is John Shepard; no relation between us." She waved the guards to leave.

"I understand more than you realize," he said standing up from the floor as the human guards left. "You come from another reality in which all of this has already occurred and in which you have already destroyed the Reapers."

"Yes," was her reply.

"Then tell me why you awoke me if you already know how to stop these creatures," he said as he turned his back to her as he began looking over his pods circuitry to make sure it could be used once again.

"Because I need the best in this fight and you are the best." She paused. "In my reality you were one of the few I could give an order to take so many people with you into battle not have to worry that they'd be killed." Javik's hands paused what they had been doing. "I know you have lost many good soldiers when you last fought, but I also know of the promise you made and because of that promise I know I can give you an order and you'll never lose a single person I put under your authority."

Turning around she was greeted by a smirk upon the Prothean's face. "Then what are my orders?" he growled out.

"For now, rest and eat what is nourishing to yourself because when you'll be needed it'll be a battle where you more than likely will die."

"Agreed," he said before turning back around to his pod and as she began to leave he spoke out. "Commander."

"Yes?" he heard her reply. "Do send the jumper down here. We have things to talk about." He heard the whirling of the doors open and then close and once again he was left alone with his thoughts.

* * *

**M-Angel**: So there is your second chapter for the month. Tell me what you think of this chapter. Also I'll be updating my other story later this month.  
**xoxoangii**: Sorry for the late post, I have been in and out of the hospital, but all is well :) Please remember to review! 3


	4. Chapter 4: Meeting the Ancient

**Chapter 4**: _Meeting the Ancient_

* * *

**Location**: _Attican Traverse_  
**Date**: _October 30, 2183  
_  
Javik's eyes closed as he awaited the humans return. This reality's races were no doubt going to have the same fate as his own, but he'd be even more damned if he were just going to sit around and do nothing. He'd already come to the conclusion that he was currently weak due to the stasis pod. By what he could remember he'd be weak for three, perhaps four days before he could help these people.  
Taking a deep breath he recounted the male that had been with the female Commander when he'd awakened. He smelled differently. Yes, even with the scents of floral, fire, guns, and steal he'd smelt something was different and then he recalled what he'd been told by an elder a long time ago...

* * *

Ian looked at his food with distaste and sat his fork down. Placing his hand over his face he groaned silently and sighed. His shoulders slumped forward. It was then he saw Ann sit down across from him with a smile. "Long day, huh?" she asked.

"Very," he groaned before pushing his half eatten meal away from himself.

"I know you haven't gotten time to mourn your friend's death, but I doubt he'd want you to starve yourself," she mumbled as he took a bite of something that resembled purple.

"What's that?" he asked as his curiosity got the better of him.

"Eggs." She chuckled as Tali and Kal both took seats next to her.

"I still can't believe we found a real live Prothean in this reality as well as our own." Tali giggled.

"Too bad our Javik left after the war and didn't stick around for all this fun," Kal chuckled.

That caused both humans to cough. "Yeah. I could see that meeting going smoothly." Ann shook her head. "Jackass meet stick-up-his-ass. Stick-up-his-ass meet Jackass." That had Ian laughing.

"Come on, our Javik got better towards the end of the war," Tali defended.

"Yeah, but now we're back to square one with newly awakened Javik." She sighed. "Guess I've gotta give him a fair chance."

"Give who a fair chance?" Garrus asked as he took a seat at the end of the table with Kolyat. The deeply man had a purple goop on his plate, which looked as bad as the blue stuff on Garrus'.

"What is that shit?" Ian gagged at the smell of rotten eggs and foot odor.

The turian gave him a smile. "Apatarae, only after it's been through a blender, mixed with bianasae." He laughed as both his wife and Ian face him confused looks at the names.

"Palaven animals," Tali cleared up. "The apatarae is the turian version of the human dinosaur brontosaurus. The bianasae is much like a human deer."

Kal snortted. "I've never read about a deer weighing forty to fifty pounds or being six to seven feet tall."

"They're big deer," she cleared up.

"Smell like shit though."

Garrus chuckled. "That's because my dear husband has bone flakes in it and didn't fully cook it." This got her a finger flick from him, which caused her to laugh.

"So where's John?" Garrus asked switching the conversation from his dinner.

"Went to find Serena." Ann stated with a shrug as she finished her eggs off.

"Why?" Ian asked looking at the Commander. The woman's eyes seemed to laugh at his question.

"Because our new Prothean wishes to speak to the time traveler or jumper." She paused. "I'm still curious on how he knew about her." She leaned back in her chair. "Did anybody mention her name or her _specialty_to him on the way to the ship?"

Ian shook his head when suddenly he paused. His eyes widened. "Shit!" he then took off out the door leaving everybody shocked.

"Guess when ya gotta go, ya gotta go." Kolyat muttered as he went back to wafting. His statement however left everyone in laughs and giggles.

* * *

Serena glared at the door that led to Javik's room. She was cracking her fingers out of nervousness. She didn't know what to say to a fifty thousand year old ancient Prothean. Taking a deep breath she walked up to the door just as the elevator door opened revealing Ian. He looked a little relieved to see her. "You okay Ian?"

"Yeah." he muttered as he walked up to her. "You haven't got in yet, have you?"

"Err...no." She looked away. "Kinda nervous. I mean...what's he want with me?"

"I think he wants to talk to me?"

Serena blinked at him before hitting him upside the head. "What! You could've told John this earlier and here I've been getting myself upset and nervous for nothing! I'm pregnant damn it! It's not healthy for the baby-" her hand flew over her mouth at that second.

Ian's eyes widened. "What!" he gasped. "How? I mean who's the-"

"Joker."

"Of the SSV-" That earned him another hit. "Ouch! Stop that!"

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-" she paused her eyes starting to fill up with tears. "I can't help but be mad right now." She stilled her foot.

"Did you just stomp your foot?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah?"

He laughed. "I thought girls only did that in movies!"

"Oh!" she punched his shoulder.

"Abuser!" he laughed. "I take it nobody else, but Joker knows." Wiping her eyes, she nodded. "I'll keep it a secret."

Just then the door to Javik's room opened revealing said Prothean. Serena eyes widened as she took him in. He radiated power. His eyes turned and looked them over. "I was coming to find you human," he said. "Explain to me how is it you are here. I can sense you do not belong, but you are not alone." He looked from Ian to Serena. "How is it there are two of you?"

"Uh..."

"Fate has a sick sense of humor?" Serena stated causing both men to look at her. "What? It's the truth. I'm still trying to get my head wrapped around the fact that if I wish something it'll happen."

"But with consequences." Ian finished.

"Yeah."

"And you wished to be here?" the Prothean asked sounding as if he didn't believe her.

"Actually I wished to have some sort of action in my life." She blinked. "I mean I was thinking along the lines of a job, a car, and maybe a really hot boyfriend. Now I'm a hundred years away from my old life and am now facing a Reaper threat where they'll turn all organics into goo for a new reaper." Ian coughed causing her to look at him. "What? It's true."

"That's putting it blunt." He then looked at the Prothean. "On my part, this all happened when I went into my bathroom and was being a smartass." That caused Serena to raise an eyebrow. "I was saying _Bloody Mary_ three times into the mirror and one third time a fucking asari appeared in the mirror and grabbed me. Next thing I know I'm on the Citidel." He laughed. "The really crazy part is the fact that in my reality all of this, the Citidel, the Reapers, and Shepard are all a part of a game called _Mass Effect_."

"Same here!" Serena gasped.

Javik watched the two humans for a second before suddenly grabbing them both a emerging himself into their past memories, while they got to see his...

* * *

**M-Angel**: Wow, it's uh...been a month or two since I updated. I know I've been neglecting my baby and my readers, but things have been...rough lately. I do hope everybody here is okay and that you haven't been affected by Hurricane Sandy. I'll try to get the next chapter out very soon. Hugs to everybody!

**xoxoangii**: my heart goes out to the east coast! hope you all(and anyone you know that was affected) are doing okay 3


	5. Chapter 5: Past and Future Collide

**Chapter 5**: _Past and Future Collide_

* * *

_**Serena's pov**_

If you've never been on one of those rides at the fair that go in a circle at a high speed that suck you to the wall of the ride as it speeds up then you'll never experience what it felt like when Javik touched me. My stomach felt nauseous and I was dizzy. However, once I got past that, I was able to see what was going on around myself. I was on a battlefield that was on an unknown planet. The sky was red and buildings were burning. There were dead bodies everywhere. As I looked closer I saw that some looked mutated, while others looked like Protheans. My eyes widened as I realized that I was in one of Javik's memories. It was then I heard an explosion behind myself. Upon turning around I saw several dozen Protheans running at me. Their armour singed in patches. Behind them more and more explosions were occurring. Something was drawing me towards those explosions, to see what they were and so I found myself walking, at first, towards the retreating Protheans. Oddly I found myself very calm. As I came to the top of a hill that overlooked the battle I saw giant reaper ships in the red sky that seemed to lit on fire. The explosions where coming from the smaller Prothean ships as they exploded from being seared in half by the much more powerful reaper lasers that were being shot from the reapers. It was then that I truly felt a deep and penetrating fear.

That was also the moment I despised that I heard a voice giving orders. Turning my head away from the scene in front of me I saw a very familiar outline of Javik. He was fording the retreat. Hundreds of men were following his orders when suddenly the men retreating down the hill were obliterated in one swoop of a laser beam from a reaper. I watched Javik look on in disbelief, at first, and then give out a deep war cry and ran forward with the rest of his men, who were still alive and took on the hordes of mutated creatures that now were headed towards them.

* * *

_**Ian's pov**_

My head was pounding as I opened my eyes. Upon opening them I saw that I was in a jungle of some type. I however heard something moving behind myself and went to grab my gun from my waist only to grasp at nothing.

Looking down I saw that I was dressed in strange armour. It looked a lot like Javik's, only instead of it being red, mine was a deep green color. It was then I also looked at my hands and saw that they were no longer mine. They were three fingered, much like the Protheans. I also could see much better than I usually could. I then turned towards the noise I had heard earlier and saw Javik there pointing a gun at me.

"You have betrayed the Empire General," he said.

"You know nothing, youngling," I heard myself say. "The Empire died long ago when the Reapers came a thousand years ago."

"I know nothing!" he snarled at me. "I know you sent me and my men into the fray expecting us all to die!" he growled. "I watched three hundred of my best men die in seconds after I sounded the retreat." He stepped closer. "I saw your ship fly away and the reapers parted for your ship to pass!"

I then heard myself chuckle. "Good, then you know more than you should." I turned and looked at the jungles and mountains of the world I was on. "You are the best warrior I have ever trained Javik. I trained you to be the best so that when this day came you wouldn't waste time in killing me." Looking up at the sky I saw the blues mixing with yellows and reds. "As with the sun setting on this world, it is time for me to be down. Kill me Javik! Or I will kill you." I turned and rushed at him. The gun went off.

* * *

**Location**: _Normandy_

**Date**: _October 30, 2183_

Javik released both humans from his control. Both seemed disoriented at first but as their eyes focused he realized that they were once again safe on the Normandy. As he had touched them to show them that this was no game, but quite real, he had also gleaned from them memories of what they had said. These two were from two very different, but similar realities. While one had yet to realize what he was to do in this life, the other was afraid to use her new found ability because of the consequences the came from using it. He then spoke to them. "You were destined to come here."

"What do you mean?" Ian inquired still reeling from the memory Javik had shared.

"A prophecy that had been found by one of our scientists years before the war came about." He looked at both of them. "With a wish, salvation will be granted. With bravery, the war will be won. With power, the enemy will run. With courage, hero's will fight together. With vengeance, a people will be remembered. With the past, the future will be cleared so that others will no longer suffer." Both humans looked at each other. "When these words were discovered in an ancient temple it had been thought that they meant nothing. However, when the reapers came it was believed that these words were a prophecy that would bring victory against them. We never found the ones that it described though."

"A wish?" Ian looked at Serena. "You believe that's her?" the ancient nodded.

"You are bravery," Serena stated as she pointed at Ian, who snorted in disbelief.

"Yes," Javik stated.

"Who's courage?" Ian asked, still not believing this.

"The female commander," was Javik's answer.

Ian raised an eyebrow. "Power?" he asked.

"Kaiden?" Serena asked

"He's dead," Ian stated. "John?"

"I'd sooner say Jack then John," Serena bartered.

"True. She is powerful, but she's not on the ship, is she?" Ian asked Serena, who shrugged. Looking back at Javik, Ian asked again. "So who's vengence and the past?"

"The past and vengeance could be one person," Javik answered. "If so, then it is I."

"This is just too weird," Ian said shaking his head. "Me being a part of some ancient prophecy.." he sighed.

"And looking in a mirror and being pulled into this reality by an Asari isn't weird?" Serena asked, her eyes darting at him to counter that one.

"Touche," he said as he walked backed towards the elevator and left.

Turning back to Javik, Serena watched the ancient turn towards the door to the cargo bay. "What if you're wrong about the last one?"

He paused and looked over his shoulder towards her. "Then we're already dead." He the continued into the room and the door shut behind him, leaving Serena standing there to think about what had been said and of what she'd been shown.

* * *

**M-Angel**: Sorry for the long wait on this one. It took me a moment to actually think up what was going to happen in this chapter because my original thought had been used by somebody else. Not naming names though. So, I hope ya'll liked this chapter. I do hope to get another chapter out, that is if I don't do a Christmas special for ya'll. If you want me to do one, vote on it in my profile. Thanks!

**xoxoangii**: Can't believe it's already Christmas season...


	6. Chapter 6: Fight!

**Chapter 6**: _Fight!_

* * *

**Location**: _Thessia Goddess Temple_  
**Date**: _November 20, 2183_

I knew my mouth was gaping wide open at the beautifully crafted murals in the windows of a goddess. "Stop gaping around and watched the door." I heard Javik growl at me and Ian who I noticed was looking around as well.

Liara looked at John. "He's quite rude," she muttered to him, but her voice echoed throughout the entire room so everybody including Javik heard her.  
"You would be too if you were on ice for fifty thousand years." John smirked at her glare.

"He doesn't need to be," she grumbled as they approached the statues, which left Ian and I to watch the entrance. "Fifty credits to the first one who kills a banshee that comes through the door?"

"We've got a better chance at shooting a husk," he grumbled.

"Is that a no?" I turned towards him as he smirked.

"Make it a hundred." That caused me to chuckle. It was right then that the entrance doors exploded quite litterally. The blast caused both Ian and I to fall right on our butts. When the dust cleared it revealed a man with slightly glowing eyes wearing a tight black and white suit and mask on his face. A yellow emblem on his chest and shoulders. "Cerberus," I heard Ian say as if it was a curse word. Both of us began shooting at the man, but none of our shots hit him because of his shield.

"My turn," he spoke and then clapped his hands together causing a biotic shockwave to hit us both and flinging us away from him and our weapons. He walked right passed us without looking back.

_Ow._ I thought as I tried to lift my head. Only to look up at no other than Miranda Lawson. My eyes widened at the pistol she had pointed at my head. Behind her were a dozen or so men. I could hear Joker's voice in my ear. "Shit, shit, shit...stay calm babe. Ann's ten minutes away."

I swallowed slowly. "Serena Lavargus," she said my name with such ease. As if she knew everything about me. "It's so nice to finally meet you. Though I'm surprised. The Illusive Man paid a high price for you to be either brought in or killed by an assassin. Apparently, there's more to you than we know, if you can survive an assassination attempt."

"You have no idea," I replied trying to stall her. With that gun pointed at me like it was it seemed like the ten minutes had already passed us by.  
"Four minutes babe." I heard Joker whisper in my ear.

"Originally I thought I'd be the one to kill you, but he had other plans." She paused and looked at Ian. Then we found out about a second _jumper_.

"Jumper?" I asked.

"That's what you are. A time jumper, isn't it?" She turned back to me and I saw Ian's still form.

Relief flooded me. _They don't know._ "Y-Yeah..." I admitted, but lied. Technically I was more than that.

She smiled. "I'm curious. Why would somebody from the past come here and how did they do it?" She stalked over to me.

I laughed nervously. "Look lady how I got here."

"Liar!" She accused me. "You must know!" She pointed her gun at me. "Stand up!"

Suddenly guns at the entrance went off as Ann and her crew joined us. I kicked Miranda's feet out from under her and ran for it. I turned just in time to see Ian shoot off a shot at her before making a beeline for Ann. It was then that the temple floor began to shake and fall into a deep abyss below. In my ear I could her Joker saying, "Run babe." I swore right then that I was first gonna kiss his sorry ass afterwards and then hit him, gently(not too gently), for being late.

"Kai Leng lets go!" I heard a now wounded Miranda yell as the missing flooring separated us from them and them from John's group.

It was then I spotted the man running towards her the floor vanishing from behind him. I watched Ann tap the side of her ear. "Now," she spoke. A single shot rang out from the balcony above John and the man named Kai Leng fell lifelessly to the floor. Miranda got away. Looking up above John's group was Garrus who pulled his face away from his scope and waved at us.

"You knew, didn't you?" I accused her.

Ann sighed. "I warned John and all he did was take two extra people." She glared at John. "Now we've gotta get over to his body and retrieve that VI." With that she turned on her heel, Kolyat and Reegar behind her.

I turned towards Ian who was looking at the now ruined temple. "You okay?"

"Yeah." He turned to me. "Just wondering what Rebecca would've thought if she knew about this."

I touched his shoulder. "I know one thing."

"Hmm?" he hummed.

"She'd be proud of what you're doing. As cheesy as that sounds." I shrugged.

He looked at me and smiled. "Thanks." he went to follow Ann. Taking one last look at the inside of the temple I turned and walked out just in time to see Ian shoot a Banshee dead. He turned and smiled at me, causing me to glare at him. "You owe me."

* * *

Once on the Normandy, I decided to postpone Joker's punishment for being late until after I showered, but first I had Chakwas fussing over me like a mother hen who's chick had gotten hurt. "I'm fine Doc, really!" I smiled and laughed as she did one last scan.

"You are pregnant my dear, a shockwave is no laughing matter. You could've been seriously hurt or you could've lost an arm or leg or..." I giggled as she went off on naming everything that could've, but didn't happen. After she cleared me as being fine I quickly showered in the crew showers and dressed quickly in the locker room before anybody could see me.

I then walked up the CIC to the bridge and kissed Joker on the lips. "Wow what was that for?" he smiled my favorite smile. I looked at him as seductively as I could, which caused him to smile even more and was about to kiss me again when I slapped him over the head, thus killing the mood. "Hey! Ow! What the hell was that-"

"That was for almost getting me killed!" I yelled at him. "You said ten minutes away. More like fifteen or twenty!" I glare at him. "What would ya have done had she shot me right before Ann walked in! Huh?"

"Hey! It's not my fault a bunch of banshee's attacked them!" he yelled back.

"Bullshit!" I pointed my finger at him. "You landed them there!"

"It was the closest place to the temple!" he defended. "What? Did ya want me to bring the Normandy in and shoot the damn place with the Thanix? Or did you want me to drop Shep on the roof, which in both cases could've hurt you and our baby!"

By now everybody on the CIC was listening and I could literally feel their stares. This of course included Ann and her crew and our resident Prothean, who lately had been getting on my nerves with his condescending words. "Yes...no...I don't know!" I growled slightly.

He gave me a blank stare. "Uh...let me get this right...you want me to risk everybody's lives to save yours?"

That one caused me to blink blankly at him. "Not when you say it that way!" I yelled.

"Shepard, are all pregnant humans like her right now?" I heard Garrus ask learily.

"Having second thoughts?" she asked

"Not quite."

My face turned pink. "Oh!" I half growled before kissing him again. "Room. Now!" with that I ran quickly to our room leaving a doubfounded Joker behind.

"Huh?"

"Joker," EDI began. "That was a signal that she's forgiven you and wishes to make amends."

"Make amen-" at that moment the lightbulb came on in Jeff's brain. _Make Up Sex!_ it yelled at him. Standing up Jeff looked at the Commander.

"Uh...Shep-"

"Go." She nodded towards where Serena and vanished. Watching him walk away she called out, "Congrats on the baby!"

This time it was Jeffs turn to flush. "Thanks Commander." He too vanished down the corridor to his room. An hour or so later when the couple re-emerged from their hiding, Jeff wore the biggest smile anybody ever had seen on his face; and as for Serena, she just smiled went on with what she usually did when preparing for a fight.

* * *

**M-Angel**: Okay I did it! Chapter six is out! Yes, I flashed forward a bit on this chapter. Reasoning? Easy, I'm not going to write word for word of the Mass Effect 3 game. I hated the endings given in the game and only after months after the game did Bioware fix it with many versions of dlc game endings. So here's my question. Should I work solely on this story come back to the other one after this is finished or continue my once every other month updates like I've been doing?

**xoxoangii**: Remember to R&R and let us know what you think!


	7. Chapter 7: Tiptree

**Chapter 7**: _Tiptree_

* * *

**Date**: _November 20, 2183_  
**Location**: _Thessia  
_  
John Shepard walked up behind Joker, who looked a little smug since coming back from his break with Serena. Noticing John behind him, Joker spoke. "So Thessia huh? I'm guessing the asari wish they had fewer dancers and more commandos right about now." He paused and looked at the non amused Commander. "Too soon?"

Irritated at what Jeff had just said John spoke with anger in his voice. "In case you hadn't noticed we just lost a few million people. This isn't the time for jokes!"

Tapping the console screens Jeff began waving his hands to find what he was looking for. Bringing up a tiny image of a small farming planet he spoke back. "You see this?" John looked at the image over Jeff's shoulder. "This is Tiptree. A little colony out in the ass end of nowhere. My Dad, or at least this reality's Joker's Dad, lives there. So does his sister. Reapers rolled in a couple days ago." The holographic display showed images of three larger Reaper ships attacking the tiny planet. "So you can generally be aware that I know there's a war going on Commander."

"So why the jokes?" John demanded as he stepped back from Jeff's chair.

"Because EDI says that according to your armor's metabolic scans, you're under more stress now that than durring the Blitz years ago." John looked at the pilot, shocked that he knew about that. "And the last time I had a briefing with Anderson or Hackett they told me to take care of both you and Ann. Those two are leading a resistance on Earth and they're worried about you two and I'm supposed to help."

John looked down before looking back at Jeff. "I appreciate the thought Joker, but I'm fine."

"The hell you are," Jeff scoffed. "You're like half robot right now." Ann was standing back watching this and listening to Joker. He looked at her mournfully. "It's my fault what happened to you ma'am. You came back for me when the Collectors attacked the original Normandy years ago. You died and I lived."

Ann looked at him and smiled. "I couldn't leave the best pilot in the fleet behind, now could I?"

Jeff coughed. "Yeah well I guess that would've looked bad on your report."

"Come on," Ann said as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "We've got work to do." With that she walked away with John a few steps behind her.

"One of these days you've gotta tell me what happened to you." He looked at her face as the war room door opened.

"Yeah, maybe we can have drinks when I do tell you." She looked at Javik who was talking to the Prothean VI that they'd managed to save from Cerberus. "What's it say?"

"That the Catalyst is the Citadel and that the Crucible will only work if the two are placed together." The ancient stated his eyes wide with this new knowledge.

"How do they work together?" Ann asked.

The ancient looked at the female. "You say you've beaten these demons before, why not try your way again?"

"My way was finding their stronghold hidden in what was once their creator's homeworld. They'd created a Dyson sphere in which they drew their power to keep a world of machines alive. Much like how the Geth back themselves up with a server, the Reapers did the same. They built a machine world that not only fixed broken Reapers ships, but to build new ones that had already been destroyed. A never ending cycle. However, when we came to this reality we found that the relay that would take us to this destination is gone. It didn't exist in this realty."

"So this is our only option?" John inquired.

"It would seem so." Javik replied somewhat sadly. "The Citadel's relay will react like a conduit and pass an energy throughout the entire galaxy, which will end the Reapers. However the Citadel is currently in the control of the Reapers. In order for the Crucible to even work we _must_ gain back control over the Citadel."

"That will be a war in and of itself." John sighed.

"Exactly." The ancient looked at the two human Commanders. "But I believe we have something they do not."

"Oh?" John crossed his arms over his chest "And what is that?"

"For once I believe it is hope." The room was silent. "I believe a prophecy that many years ago was said to come to past is in it's beginning stages of doing so."

"You're talking about Serena," Ann responded, shocked that the Prothean would want to involve a pregnant woman.

"She is one element of this prophecy." He paused as the VI vanished into the ship's systems so that it could be tapped into by both Commanders. "You both can now gain access to the VI with your personal consoles."

"You said one element. What are the others?" John asked.

He looked at both of them. "The prophecy that was found many years ago by my people stated that with a wish, salvation will be granted. With bravery, the war will be won. With power, the enemy will run. With courage, hero's will fight together. With vengeance, a people will be remembered. With the past, the future will be cleared so that others will no longer suffer." Both humans looked at each other. "When these words were discovered in an ancient temple, it had been thought that they meant nothing. However, when the reapers came it was believed that these words were a prophecy that would bring victory against them. We never found the ones that it described though." He paused. "That is until now. I believe the wish will come from the girl. Immense bravery from one Ian Shaw. Courage is you, Shepard." He nodded towards Ann. "I do not know who the power will come from."

"The last two are?"

The ancients four eyes narrowed at John. "Me."

"Figures," John sighed. "Okay, but while you have this prophecy we're fighting a war that seems to have no end in sight. We've got the turians on our side and the krogans because of Ares and we just gained the hannar who are sending once of their best fighters to meet us at any requested destination."

Ann's omni-tool pinged, she looked down and smiled. "Commander?" came Javik's voice.

Looking up she smiled at John. "You asked Hackett to build another Normandy?"

"Serena's idea." he stated.

Chuckling, Ann continued. "Yeah well, the quarians helped in finishing it. That's the good news. The bad is that it's in port at Tiptree and another bad thing is it's getting worse there."

"Then we head there, pick up my new ship and separate," John said heading to the door.

"No. Separating is bad," Javik began, but was stopped when Ann held up her hand.

"For once John's right." She began to explain to Javik. "If we separate, John can get the asari and the salarians to help. I'll try to get the volus and the elcor to help."

"What about the Hanar representative?" Javik inquired.

"We will tell him to meet us at Tiptree but to be careful because it's hot with Reapers."

"Sounds good to me." With that John left the room.

Ann turned towards the ancient and smirked. "You know, I think I like this reality's version of you."

The Prothean seemed to be shocked by this admission. "Why?" he inquired.

"The Commander Javik back home always came off as an ass to me because he couldn't get past the fact that the primatives were the ones to defeat his enemy and the fact the Liara wouldn't leave him alone with her inquisitive questions probably didn't help either."

"This Liara is the same asari that is on this ship?" he asked, looking a bit tense. Ann shook her head no which made him relax.

"The one onboard is three years younger than the one back in my reality." She chuckled as she watched the Prothean begin to digest this information. He then nodded and left leaving her to chuckle just as Garrus walked in.

"Something funny?" he inquired as he pulled her close to his chest.

She hummed as she leaned her forehead against his. "Just thinking," she said with a smile.

"Of happy thoughts." His question for some reason made her blush. "Oh, those kinds of thoughts."

"I wasn't thinking about _that_, well not until you came in." She smirked.

"Oh," he chuckled. "Good save Shepard."

"Thought so myself," she said as she walked away. "But we do have twelve hours to spare." She turned towards him and winked before leaving. Seconds later the crew could've seen a turian running after Ann Shepard or they could've had anybody actually been watching them.

* * *

**M-Angel**: Yeah another chapter. I have decided to focus on this story and then go back to A New Dawn later. I may come out with another chapter towards the middle of the month or not, but I do hope to finish this story by summer...hopefully. LoL!  
**xoxoangii**: *ponders about Javik and Liara...*


	8. Chapter 8: Game Plan

**Chapter 8**: _Game Plan_

* * *

**Date**: _November 24, 2183_  
**Location**: _Widow Nebula / Tiptree system_

I looked out into the obyss that was the Widow Nebula. In a few hours we'd be arriving in the system where Tiptree was located. As I was staring out the window I heard the door behind me open and close and saw a young turian female who looked a bit annoyed. It seemed she was upset about something and I wasn't certain if I should be in the same room with an upset female turian. Having lived on the Citadel for nearly two years I'd barely ever come into contact with an female turian. Those that I have usually were always mad, which only made me think that maybe that was why males seemed upset about something all the time. "Uh...hi." the female said. Her harmonics made her voice sound beautiful and kind reminded me of my sister.

"Hi." was my reply.

"I'm Solana, Garrus' sister." This caused my eyes to widen. I knew when Ann and her ship came through to this reality that there had been a lot of people aboard. It had never occurred to me that Garrus had family onboard. "You're Serena, right?" I nodded. Her mandibles spread into a smile. "Garrus says you're a good shot and probably the best student he's ever had. Of course that was a long time ago he'd said that." Her fingers were twitching.

"Are you okay?" I inquired.

"My husband and I had an argument." she sighed as she looked out at the nebula. "It's quite beautiful. Do you know what makes those colors of the Widow Nebula?"

"Yeah, different types of gasses." That caused Solana to blink at me. She was about to begin giving me a lecture; I could see it in her facial features, when EDI's holo projected body appeared in the room. _Saved by EDI._ I thought with a smile.

* * *

Javik looked up at me as I entered the War Room and growled softly. "What's his problem?" I asked Ann.

"Chakwas thinks he's in heat." She said with a chuckle.

"Spirits." I heard Garrus curse. "How'd that happen?"

"Well being on ice for fifty thousand years cou-"

"I'm not in heat you damn primitives!" He snarled which made Ann shut up.

"Carolyn says your hormones are raging an-"

"I. Am. Not. In. Heat." His snarl punctuated each word.

"I don't believe you." Ann responded only to have the Prothean litterally jump to his feet and slam her into the wall. Her had a tight grip on her throat, when suddenly his raging snarling turned into a slight purr. "I'm not taking you on this mission Javik. You are in no condition to fight and you know it. You're not thinking rationally." He pulled away with his head bowed and nodded before leaving the room.

"Why am I in here?" I asked

"Because we may need our lucky little medic," she said this with a smirk.

"You know I'm pregnant, right?" There were chuckles between the two of them.

"It was kinda hard not to hear your argument with Joker the other day." Garrus smirked, which caused my face to heat up.

"We have reports saying that there's very little going on groundside of Tiptree." Ann began as a holo popped up on the War Table. I looked at the tiny planet that had dozens of green blips flying around it. "We got a message from a Captain Kasolve that they saw a ship called the Kilauea and Kilamanjaro destroy a reaper ship." She smirked. "John says that the latter of the two is controlled by his mother Captain Hannah Shepard and says she's a big renegade when she wants to be. She's also the one who's saved the former SSV Normandy's crew back on the Citadel a while back." There was a clanging chuckle from Garrus. "What?" she asked him.

He turned his head away from the projector. "Just trying to imagine Harbinger's shock when not one Shepard, but three Shepard's escaped his clutches."

She smirked. "He probably said, Damn it, those organics are pissing me off." she laughed.

I just shook my head. "What are we going to do about Javik?" I asked. Ann shrugged.

"Find Liara and tell her to make him _embrace eternity_?" Garrus sugested. Both Ann and I smirked.

"Okay, cleared that up." Ann went back to the map. "We're heading towards the shipyards that are on the other side of Tiptree. Joker says that his other self and Normandy crew are in place and awaiting final preperations."

"Probably mostly waiting for John and his crew." I stated. "Alberdeen wants to know if he staying or going 'cause I think he likes this ship and it's big guns."

"John is going to need to take him, Tali, Wrex, and-"

"Ian?" I asked.

"No, Ian stays. Kolyat will go with him." She paused "I'd like to find Thane and Jack in this reality and see if they'll help."

"Jack won't, but if she does she'll want that academy destroyed." Garrus said looking over at Ann.

"Shit, I forgot that." Ann paused. "Oh well. I don't want Cerberus to get ahold of her. Same goes for Thane."

"Uh, speaking of Cerberus, I think we need to watch out for them." I said quietly, Ann nodded.

"I need to find Oriana. If we find her and keep her aboard, Miranda may back off. With Kai Leng out of way we may be able to dodge the Illusive Man...for awhile at least."

"So the plan is get the new Normandy out of the docks on Tiptree, get John's mom to help us, kill the Reapers and dodge Cerberus while saving the galaxy." Garrus said with a smirk.

Ann chuckled. "Yep."

"Okay just checking. Also I am so picking next years honeymoon vacation."

"You're still mad about Ilos?"

"Not at all, just would like less shooting and more loving next year is all." They both were looking at each other with heated gazes.

I chuckled at the two of them. Both looked at me with a smirk. "Yeah, I'm totally not getting involve in that argument." and walked away from them.

* * *

**M-Angel**: Sorry for the shortness. Next chapter will be longer.  
**xoxoangii**: Please R&R! :)


	9. Chapter 9: Relief

**Chapter 9**: _Relief_

* * *

**Date**: _November 24, 2183_  
**Location**: _Tiptree  
_  
I sighed as I sat down in the co-pilot's seat next to the shuttle pilot Steven Cortez. He was the funniest guy I knew, next to Jeff. He smirked as he looked at my heavy looking armorial that Ann said I _had_ to wear. I felt very heavy. It was purple, green and black with an N7 logo on the chest with a red cross symbol under it and on my right arm. I placed my visor over my left eye and looked at back at him. "What?" I asked, really trying not to look upset.

"Not saying a thing," he replied.

"Good, 'cause I'd really have to shoot ya, only to have fix ya back up again." I looked out the cockpit window away from him only to hear a snort behind me.

John smirked as I looked back at him. "Since when has that stopped you from kickin' somebody's ass?"

"Since I became pregnant," I muttered with a pout.

John sat down and sighed. "At least you get an easy mission. I haven't spoken to my mother in years."

"Why's that?" Ann asked as she and Garrus took their spot opposite of him.

"We're too much alike," was his only explanation, which got him certain looks from both Jane and Garrus.

"She's a pain in my side and I'm pain in her ass," he said. "We haven't gotten along since my father's death. She got rid of me the second she found out I was a biotic. Tried to get back into my life when I turned twenty-five." He paused and then sighed. "It's been five years since we last spoke."

"Then it's time you spoke again," Ann said as she leaned back. "After we get the Normandy SR-2, we got to find your mom and talk to her-"

"You can talk, I'm-" John interjected, but was cut off by Garrus.

"Going with us." The turian gave John his most fearsome look, which I'd come to call his "Archangel look".

The two stared for a good five minutes before John sighed in defeat. "Fine. But I'm warning you, she's not the easiest to like."

With that, the conversation stopped as we entered the atomosphere of Tiptree. The blue/green planet was quite beautiful looking. Tiny farms and villages were spattered everywhere on it's surface. It reminded me of home, my home, my time, and my earth. As much as I missed everything I left behind in 2010, I couldn't help but also be happy. If none of this had ever happened to me, how would this have ended? Bad or good? I guess I'd never know, but what I did know was this: nobody was going to take my new life away from me.

So as we docked with the dry docks that held the new Normandy I felt a renewed sense of purpose hit me, and it felt good.

* * *

In all his days as a pilot, Jeff _Joker_ Moreau could always say that his ship was always flyable when it came back from a mission. It's crew would be a little space sick if he'd decided to play a dirty joke and remove the gravity on board just as they'd hit atomosphere of a planet or on good days they'd arrive safe and sound. He'd never lost a single person or got into a firefight that didn't mean they wouldn't all come home safely, until now. Sovereign changed everything. He'd tried to keep his girl from going down as long as he could to allow as many crew member to get into escape pods. Angie had grabbed his arm and dislocated his shoulder in the process and the both of them and Pressley had managed to just get into the pod and get off the _SSV Normandy_ just as it exploded. The shockwave from the explosion had sent the pod flying into the outer wards of the Citadel. They'd been a part of the lucky few who'd survived from the ship. It had taken them twenty minutes, due to his injuries, to get to the wards port. It was there they, with others from the Normandy, had stolen a shuttle and maneuvered it through a large gaping hole in the side the Citadel and escaped. They had been hailed by the _SSV Kilomanjaro_ and from the Serpent Nebula the left for the Widow Nebula.

Jeff looked at his newly constructed Normandy. She was twice the size as the first. Bigger weapon systems, badder guns, and better stealth than the first. She was equipped with long range EMP missiles to damage shields and take out a ship's engines. She also had nukes onboard, though he couldn't fathom why they'd need those old fashioned weapons. "Flight Lieutenant, how does she look?" came a very commanding voice behind him, one he'd been associating with his ever present migrains that could make Alenko's look like kids play.

He groaned as he turned and looked at the slightly graying and newly promoted Admiral Hannah Shepard. "She looks fine ma'am," he replied.

"Fine? Only _fine,_ Flight Lieutenant Moreau?" she scoffed. "She's more than that and I should know."

"Yes ma'am," he said as he watched her enter the ship's airlock and sighed as he began hobbling towards the ship.

"Jeff!" came a yell from behind him. Upon turning he saw the ever delightful Angie and his thirteen year old baby sister Hilary Moreau. Bright green eyes looked up at him with awe and he knew his sister was about to go off about how much she wanted to be a pilot and everything.

"Angie says you're going to be leaving soon!" she pouted, causing him to smirk.

"Yep," was his only answer to this.

"Can I come?" Her eyes twinkled with mischief.

"You'll have to ask my CO, but I'm certain he or she will say no," he said sounding confident in his answer.

"Aw, please?" He laughed at her pouting lip and smiled.

"Joker!" He heard a very familiar voice yell out which caused him to jump slightly and had his back going straight as, well, a crooked arrow in his mind.  
He then heard laughter and turned to see Commander John Shepard laughing his ass off at Jeff going to attention so quickly, while Ann Shepard smirked. "Shit, Shep; I thought you were your Mom."

"My mother's here?" Jeff watched as John's eyes darkened.

He nodded and pointed to the ship. "She's inspecting the ship as we speak."

"Figures," he muttered.

"The ship looks fine Mr. Moreau, but a lot of wasted space-" she stopped abruptly at seeing John standing there with Ann next to him. Her eyes gazed over Ann for no more than a second before going back and memorizing her sons look. '_He looks tired,' _was her first thought followed by. '_Thank God he's alive.'_ She quickly hid her emotions and walked up to him. The two stared at each other for a minute. "Hell with it," she said and pulled him into the tightest hug she could possibly give him with his armour still on.

Ann saw the shocked look on John's face. Obviously he hadn't thought his mom would be worried about him. Obviously he'd been wrong.

"Mom-Ma'am," he corrected himself and pulled back to look at her giving her a look of confusion. "Are-"

"Damn it John," she cursed. "I thought I lost you. I've been sending you messages for weeks." Relief gave way to anger. "I know we haven't spoken in years but still..." she paused and looked at Ann."Who's she?"

Ann now looked worried. She didn't need an angery mother/admiral coming after her now. "This is Ann Shepard," John spoke, about to explain everything. "She's-" he was interrupted again by his mother.

"Your cousin," Hannah sighed with relief. "You're Jonathan's sister's daughter. Jonathan, being my husband. Correct?"

Ann blinked. "Yes ma'am," was the only reply that could come out of her mouth. The Admiral turned back towards the ship. John looked at Ann with a raised eyebrow. She shrugged.

"John," Hannah began. "Whatever is going on I want you to know you have my full support."

"You haven't even heard what I have to say," he said this sounding a bit shocked.

"I'm your mother and I refuse to lose you because of a stupid argument." She turned and looked at him. "She's a good ship, she'll get you far, but you'll need help with whatever you and your-" she looked at Ann. "_cousin_ are planning. When you are ready, the crew of the _Kilimanjaro_ and my fleet here will be ready to help you."

John smiled. "Thank-you Admiral, mom." He watched as she smiled and then walked away from the ship. "That was-"

"Easier than you thought," Ann finished his thought for him. John nodded. "Now we need a crew."

Jeff hobbled up the ramp. "That's the easy part. Tiptree is filled with former soldiers and Alliance techies, and we do have Tali, though she left a month ago to chat with her old man about an idea she had."

"So we talk to the old soldiers and techs," John said walking up to Jeff, only to look down at a young girl.

"I'm Hilary, Jeffrey's sister," she said. "Are you his CO?" Jeff groaned, while John nodded. This caused the young girl to smile and her eyes twinkle with mischief.

* * *

**M-Angel**: Yay, I put out another chapter for this month! *dances*  
**xoxoangii**: Yay for Tiptree and Joker's sister! :D


	10. Chapter 10: Recruiting Part 1

**Chapter 10**: _Recruiting Pt 1_

* * *

**Date**: _December 1, 2183_  
**Location**: _Omega  
_  
Ian yawned as he walked into the War Room. Inside, both Ann Shepard and Garrus were waiting for him, along with the newly awakened tank-bred krogan, Grunt, who looked slightly miffed about something. Garrus looked up from his data pads and smirked. "About time Shaw, thought I'd have to send a search party for you."

Ian chuckled. Over the last few months he'd become friends with this Garrus. He was a bit wiser than his old partner, whom he still missed. "Nope, just thought I'd be a paining yer arse today and be slow."

Garrus laughed. "Guess I'll have to kick your ass later." Both chuckled at that. Ann shook her head at her husband and his new friend. "Enough of that; we have work to get done." He turned on the holo projector in the center of the table. "This is Omega," he said as the image came up of the station. "I'm sure you're curious as to why we're here. I'll tell you. In my reality I came here after an incident that occurred in my time. While here I created a team of vigilantes. These people are here right now and I want to pick 'em up."

"Are they worthy for me to fight by?" Grunt asked gruffly while leaning against the metal wall opposite of Ann.

"Yes," was Garrus' only response. "Their names are Erash, Grundan, Melanis, Monteague, Laet, Mierin, Vortash, Butler, Sidonis, and Weaver." Everybody had noticed his slight growl at the mention of Sidonis.

"What are their specialties?" Ian asked. "Just want to know if we actually need them on our team is all."

Chuckling, Garrus continued. "Erash is a turian male. A biotic, which is rare for turians. Also is a sniper and enjoys human literature." That got a chuckle from Ian. "Monteague is a drell male and was the squad medic. Mierin is a slightly nervous salarian. Was part of the infiltration squad." He paused and looked at Ann. "Grundan is a batarian." That made Ann look nervous. "He was our tech expert. Doesn't really talk much, but always acts seriously." He rolled down to the next one on his list. "Laet is always cheery and a borderline cocky turian and was in charge of the squad's equipment, armour and weapons. Also, he produces his own gadgets for the squad to use." He tapped the image and smirked as a memory popped up because if the image of his old squadmate. "Melanis..." He paused and looked up. "She's a turian female who specialized in stealth and infiltration but she's also an extremely competent fighter in a full on battle. Doesn't trust very easily, but wants to do good." He thought for a moment. "If you wanna know about the others I have their profiles right here on this pad." He sat the data pad down on the table, only for Grunt to snag it. "I trusted them before, I'm sure I can trust them again."

"So who's going down to get 'em?" Ian asked, knowing already that he was going down. "Ann is taking a team down to get the two salarians. They're the easiest ones. Ian you're coming with me to get everybody else."

There was a snort from Grunt. "And what about me!" he cried out indignantly. "I wanna kill something!"

Ann smirked. "Grunt, you and Grim are coming with me."

Both Ian and Garrus looked at her with wide eyes. "You're going to give both Mierin and Weaver heart attacks," Ian accused her.

"No, she'll startle 'em, but they may refuse to help us," Garrus replied but shrugged and looked at his wife. "I trust you though."

She smirked. "You better." she then walked out with Grunt following her.

Ian watched the Commander leave and then turned back to Garrus. "So who do we go after first?"

"Monteague," he quickly replied as they both headed down to the elevator. "He's friends with Melanis. You convince him in joining. I'll convice Melanis."  
Ian turned to look at Garrus. "Will he listen?" The elevator door opened to the cargo bay where the shuttle was waiting for them. The shuttle pilot already had the shuttle engines warming up.

"Yeah, but Mel will be harder to convince." The two vanished into the shuttle.

* * *

**Location**: _Purgatory_

John looked out the shuttle window as Cortez settles the shuttle at the Purgatory airlock. Ann had told him not to trust the warden and that he was as crooked as they came. He put on his helmet and looked over at both Aberdeen and Ashley, both of which had their weapons ready. "Ready when you are Skipper," came Ashley's voice over the comm.

"Right. Remember, no giving up your weapons and no talking." He paused as he opened the shuttle door and entered Purgatory through the airlocks. The two guards standing there were humans. "Commander John Shepard, I'm here for Jack."

Both men looked at him as if he was crazy. "You sure you want her sir?" one asked.

"She's crazier than an L2 gone nuts," the other responded.

"Hackett wants her," was his only response.

The two men looked down their terminals. "If you say so," the first said. "We'll need your weapons."

"It's policy," said the other.

"Yeah, and as Spectre I have a policy of never handing them over."

Both men went to pull theirs out when they heard the clicking of metal shoes on the metal flooring. Turning they saw their boss come out of the elevator. John raised an eyebrow at the female turian standing before him. "I'm Warden Olg'nar," she said. "You must be Shepard. Follow me."

"Thought this place was run by the Blue Suns," he said as they began walking down the halls to Jack's cell, hopefully.

The turian smirked. "They do. I'm being replaced by some damn male. They say I'm not harsh enough on these prisoners. In truth, they want me to use brutality and torture to these people."

"Do you know why we're here?" he asked.

"Yes, Admiral Hackett told me that you and your cousin are assembling together teams and going to train them in order to take back the Citadel from these Reapers." She paused and looked at him. "I've been asked by him to help you. I have a cousin living on Phros Niam, it's a turian controlled blackwater planet. He's a general with over a hundred ships under his command. His name is General Zuris Olg'nar. He was apart of the First Contact War, tell him his little cousin Sarrana sent you to him." They continued on their way to the cryogenic cells. "This is where we keep her." She looked at him. "Stay here." She then walked up to a cryogenic tube which was thawing. It opened up to reveal a still, sleeping Jack.

Aberdeen smirked and said quietly."Looks like sleeping beauty isn't waking up." Just then, the very tattooed woman opened her eyes. Her body flared with her biotics and she began struggling against the chains that held her arms down, when suddenly a gun went off and a dart implanted itself into her neck followed by two more gun shots and two more darts. Jack stopped struggling and passed out.

Shepard walked over to the warden on the floor, who was cleaning her tranquilizer gun. "She's all yours Shepard." The turian female then sauntered away from him. "When my replacement comes I'll come looking for you and see if I can help you out!" she yelled back at him and vanished beyond the elevator doors to her office.

John looked at the now passed out Jack and sighed. "Pick her up Aberdeen and let's get out of here."

Once they were back aboard the _SSV Normandy 2,_ Jack was taken to the new medbay. Chakwas scanned her and smiled. "Her body is already processing the traquilizer and pushing it out of her system. She'll be up and about in five to six hours."

John nodded. "Thanks Doc." He smiled as he went to leave but paused when he saw Aberdeen staring at the girl. "What is it man?"

"I know her," he stated.

"From where?"

John watched his friends features scrunch up into confusion. "I don't know, but I wanna find out."

John nodded. "Stay here and watch her." He then headed off towards the comm room to call Ann.

* * *

**M-Angel**: Yay, another chapter for this month! I wanna say Congrats to xoxoangii for her wedding on Thursday.

**xoxoangii**: Thank you! The wedding was beautiful, and it feels amazing being married. :D

**M-Angel**: Also I wanna promote a story called _**And The Meek Shall Inherit the Galaxy**_...It is an awesome story that reimagines the First Contact War and it is a WOW kind of story. I really like it and hope ya'll do too. It's in my favorites in my profile. Enjoy!

**xoxoangii**: I'll have to check out that story... see you guys at the next chapter!


	11. Chapter 11: The Recruiting Part 2

**Chapter 11**: _The Recruiting Pt 2_

* * *

**Date**: _December 1, 2183_  
**Location**: _Omega_

Ann looked around what was the cesspool of the galaxy. This reality's Omega was no better than her own. It smelled liked urine and death and the famous Afterlife was still the center of the station's lifeblood. As soon as she'd come aboard the station with Grunt and Grim one of Aria's goons had confronted them. Grim, who once worked for Aria in her reality almost six hundred years ago had recognized the batarian slaver at once as Aria's second Devix N'vor, or at least that was what he was called in her reality. Here in this one he was nothing more than Aria's fetcher and did Aria's bidding. So now instead of looking for the two salarians like she should have been she was following this man into Afterlife because Aria wanted to speak with the _female_ Shepard. She just prayed Garrus was having better luck than she was.

* * *

Garrus had the pilot dock on the southern side of the Omega station that way he'd be sure to avoid Aria and her goons and be able to get to where he hoped Monteague would be. He looked back at the human male, Ian. He wasn't sure about this male, even though he'd seen how well he could handle himself. He still had a few doubts about him. He seemed distracted still by the other Garrus' demise and he guessed that would be kind of hard for the guy. It wasn't every day you saw your best buddy shot and killed, though since the Reapers invaded he'd guess it was even more common than before.

The two of them exited the shuttle and made a beeline for the drell bar on this side of Omega that Garrus had seen Monteague go into a few times before in the other reality and just hoped this payed off. Upon entering the bar Garrus saw that it seemed things were slow today and saw only two or three drell sitting at the bar itself and only one at the booth. Smiling he headed for the booth, giving Ian the signal to stay where he was. Once reaching the booth he spoke. "Monteague?"

The drell looked mournful as his head lifted from its bowed position. "Yes." He spoke in a slurred nature. He was obviously drunk and very much so.

"I'm Garrus Vakarian; I've been looking for you," he said as he took a seat next to his. "I'm sure you know about the Reapers going around Citadel space and around several home worlds killing people." The drell gave a single nod. "I've been asked to gather up some people and build a team. I've heard about your medical skills and was hoping you'd help us out."

The drell took and deep breath and sighed. "I do not know how much help I can give you in the field. I am not at my best."

"Drunkenness will go away," Garrus said, hoping to get a smile from the saddened drell, but none came.

"I've lost somebody very dear to me. We've been together for what seems like years, but was in fact months." He looked up at Garrus, his blackened eyes seeming to stare straight into Garrus' soul, just like his old friend's eyes use to. Always so knowledgeable and wise. "I will not be going alone though," he continued. "I have a dear friend who is a wonderful fighter. I am sure it is she who will give you the help you so desire."

"We'd be willing to speak to your friend." Just then Garrus heard a grunt that sounded too much like somebody getting hit in the face. The two of them turned their heads towards the sound to see a human male getting hit in the stomach by a female turian. Garrus shook his head. Melanis seemed to be the same. He looked towards the door and saw Ian trying to cover a laugh, but failing to do so. The female turian didn't seem to like his laugh and began to walk over to him. Garrus heard Monteague curse and stand.

* * *

Ian watched Garrus walk over to the drell sitting and the table and decided to lean against a pillar near the doorway. He heard the bar door open and saw a human male walk inside, already smelling like alcohol and walk past him to the bar. It was then that he noticed that one of the smaller looking drell was not a drell, but in fact a female turian, who now had the displeasure of making an acquaintance with the drunkard. Contemplating whether or not to go help her out, Ian watched in amazement as the man tried, shamelessly, to kiss her; only to first get punched in the face with her elbow and then secondly to get a gut punch. The man first grunted then gave a cry as the face punch registered to his brain, then almost immediately afterwards he doubled over from the gut punch.

Ian tried to cover his laughter with a cough but failed. It was always humorous to watch a drunkard get beat up by competent woman no matter the species. It was then he saw that the female had turned her attention to him and cursed inwardly at his bad luck. "If you don't want to end up like your buddy, I'd shut up."

Ian snorted. "I'm not with him, but thanks for giving into the stereo-type that all humans are together." She snarled. "Look, I'm with the big turian over there who's talkin' to a friend of his. Just waiting is all."

"Waiting for what?" she demanded.

"Waiting for you," came a deep voice behind her. She turned and saw the drell Ian was talking about and calmed down slightly. "Monteague, I've been looking for you!" she yelled.

"Not too hard I hope," he said with sadness seeping into his voice. He looked at Garrus. "This is Garrus, he wants my help, but I told him you'd be a better match than I."

"What's the job?" she asked skeptically.

"Save the galaxy, stop the bad guys, and possibly survive for another day," Garrus dismissed. "You know, same old stuff we're taught in the military." He shrugged his shoulders in dismissal of how serious it was.

"Oh really?" she raised an eyebrow. "No damsel in distress to save?"

Garrus shrugged. "Never know, it may happen."

Ian blinked at this. It seemed unreal. Just a second ago the woman was trying to start a fight with him, now she was treating Garrus like she'd known him all her life.

"I guess I have nothing better to do, but what's the catch?" she asked

"We're going against the Reapers," he said with a very serious voice. "There's a very high chance you may die."

The woman crossed her arms acrossed her chest. "And here I thought it was going to be easy." She sighed. "I've got stuff to gather. Where do we meet you?"

"The southern port. Near the human sector."

She looked back at Ian, "Is he really a part of the team?" she inquired only to get a single nod from Garrus. She growled slightly. "Fine, but keep him away from me, I'm in no mood for boys trying to be men." With that she and Monteague walked out of the bar leaving both men behind.

"Is she always like that?" Ian asked in a deadpanned voice.

"Like what?" was his reply from the turian.

Ian's eyes widened. "Like…like she don't give a rat's ass about anything one minute, want to kill you the next, and then be all friendly."

Garrus chuckled as he walked out with Ian next to him. "That's just Mel." Ian sighed, which only caused Garrus to chuckle. "Don't think too much about it. If she wants to be your friend, she'll initiate contact. If not, stay away."

"Are all turian women like that?"

Garrus snorted. "Most are prissy and want you to court them and then settle down with them to make babies. Mel, is different. You've got to prove to her that you're worth the air you breathe. You've got to prove that you can do everything you're doing and can stay alive while doing it." He looked at Ian. "I think you two will make a great team."

Ian stopped in his tracks. "What!" he yelled at the turian as he continued to walk leaving the human in shock.

* * *

**M-Angel**: Well, I know I've been procrastinating in writing this chapter. Hopefully this longer chapter has made up for it.


End file.
